Guest staff

prof.dr. H.E. Vonkeman (Harald)

External Professor
BMS-HIB-PHT
Capitool 15 138
h.e.vonkeman@utwente.nl
Business card

CHAIR PATIENT CENTERED HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

My aim is to advance research that facilitates a transition of care, in which healthcare supported by technology is increasingly being delivered at a distance from healthcare institutions, in a way that is both meaningful to patients and has added value to society. To achieve this, I intend to further develop a platform and network that facilitates collaboration between patients, scientists, medical specialists, primary care professionals and tech companies, that stimulates development of innovative health technologies and accelerates access to evidence-based technological innovations in healthcare.

As a physician, my main aim has been to enhance quality of life of patients living with chronic rheumatic diseases. Although this work has significantly improved long term outcomes of patients, I have found that there are often striking discrepancies in perceptions of disease between patients and caregivers. Much of my research has been on measuring and using patients’ perspectives as goals of treatment, i.e., outcomes that are relevant to patients; such as pain, fatigue, physical function and participation. These outcomes are often multidimensional and complex, difficult to measure and even harder to use in treatment strategies. In recent years this work has branched out to the development and implementation of Value Based Health Care. 

The role of Health Technology has become increasingly important in the way professionals diagnose, treat and monitor patients, in healthcare institutions and increasingly also at home, as well as for patients themselves. Projects aimed at using innovative technology to measure and improve outcomes involve telemonitoring of chronic diseases, computer adaptive tests, pain threshold measurement and therapeutic use of virtual reality.

As a board member of the Dutch Society for Rheumatology (NVR), charged with the portfolio Training & Education, and as director of the MST Rheumatology Fellowship, I endeavor to include innovative health technology in future medical intern- and fellowships of physicians and nurses.

Expertise

  • Medicine and Dentistry

    • Inflammatory Arthritis
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Disease Activity
    • Diseases
    • TNF Inhibitor

  • Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science

    • Adverse Drug Reaction

  • Nursing and Health Professions

    • Spondylarthritis
    • Patient-Reported Outcome

Organisations

Ancillary activities

  • Medisch Spectrum TwenteMedical Specialist
  • Medisch Spectrum TwenteChief Medical Officer - Science, Education and Innovation

Publications

2026

Patient Experiences and Preliminary Effects of Virtual Reality Based Pain Treatment in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients With Persistent Pain Despite Low Disease Activity: A Mixed Method Pilot Study (2026)Musculoskeletal care, 24(3). Article e70251. Temmink, S. J. M., Bakker, M. A., Gerritsen, D. D., Hegeman, M. C., de Vries, L., Ten Klooster, P. M., Bode, C. & Vonkeman, H. E.https://doi.org/10.1002/msc.70251Exploring the Effects of Electronic Health Record Usage and Consultation Room Setup on Patient Perceived Communication Quality using Eye-Tracking Technology (2026)[Working paper › Preprint]. Social Science Research Network (SSRN) (Submitted). van 't Klooster, J.-W., Slijkhuis, P. J. H., Klooster, P. M. t., Drossaers-Bakker, K. W., Hegeman, M. C. & Vonkeman, H. E.https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.7313109Exploring possibilities towards PeRsonalIsed MEdicine in Rheumatoid Arthritis (PRIMERA): tailored modifications to standard treat-to-target management-a multicentre, randomised, open-label trial (2026)RMD Open, 12(3). Looijen, A. E. M., Dag, H. H., Heutz, J. W., van Gaalen, F. A., Hegeman, M. C., van der Kaap, J. H., Korswagen, L. A., Padmos, R. C., Riyazi, N., Spierings, J., Tchetverikov, I., Veris-van Dieren, J. J., Vonkeman, H. E., Willemze, A., van der Helm-van Mil, A. H. M. & de Jong, P. H. P.https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2026-007217Measurement concepts for the characterization of the pain system (2026)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Jansen, N.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036572729The association between residual disease and the risk of future disease flares in axial spondyloarthritis: A longitudinal study (2026)Seminars in arthritis & rheumatism, 78. Article 152980. Renet, E., Smits, M. L., van Tubergen, A., Vonkeman, H. E. & Webers, C.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2026.152980Circulating immune cell biomarkers in Psoriatic Arthritis: associations with clinical manifestations and treatment response in the TOFA-PREDICT trial (2026)Arthritis research & therapy, 28(1). Article 145 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Perton, F. T., Pouw, J. N., Spierings, J., Kors, D. N., Concepcion, A. N., Bekker, C. P. J., Vonkeman, H. E., Mooij, S. C., Schipper, L. G., Herman, A., Vreugdenhil, S. A., Wijngaarden, S., Vreugdenhil, S. A., Vonkeman, H. E., van Tubergen, A. M., Schipper, L. G., Mooij, S. C., Leijten, E. F. A., van Kuijk, A. W. R., … Welsing, P. M. J.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-026-03833-7Induction of Cure in Early Arthritis (I CEA): Results of a randomised clinical trial to compare three treatment strategies in recent onset undifferentiated arthritis (2026)RMD Open, 12(2), e006828. Nevins, I. S., van der Pol, J. A., Van Ouwerkerk, L., Helmich, G. S., Bos, R., Van Der Kooij, S. M., Vonkeman, H. E., Bijsterbosch, J., de Jong, P. H. P., Güler-Yüksel, M., Böhringer, S., Huizinga, T. W. J., van Gaalen, F. A. & Bergstra, S. A.https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2026-006828Almost half of the patients with axial spondyloarthritis reporting an acceptable symptom state have high disease activity; data from two standard-of-care cohorts (2026)Seminars in arthritis & rheumatism, 77. Article 152903. Carbo, M., Kampman, A., Paap, D., Wink, F., Webers, C., Vonkeman, H., van Tubergen, A., Arends, S. & Spoorenberg, A.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2025.152903Strengthening patient and public involvement in digital health innovation: reflective analysis of the development and real-world testing of the MyRA application (2026)The Lancet Rheumatology, 8(4), e274-e284. Hochstenbach, L. M. J., Verbeek, J. G. E., Bakker, M. M., Brokken-Peters, M. B. J., van den Dungen, P., van Gulik, D., van Helmond, T., Libbers, M., Ophuis, C., Spreeuwenberg, M. D., Vonkeman, H. E. & van Tubergen, A.https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(25)00341-8Predicting clinical response in psoriatic arthritis through integrative analysis of transcriptomics and proteomics (2026)Arthritis research & therapy, 28(1). Article 85 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Bentvelzen, M. L. M., el Bouhaddani, S., Spierings, J., Concepcion, A. N., Vonkeman, H. E., Mooij, S. C., Schipper, L. G., Herman, A., Vreugdenhil, S. A., Comarniceanu, A. C., Kadir, S. W., Wijngaarden, S., van Tubergen, A. M., Jahangier, Z. N., Leijten, E. F. A., Kok, M. R., van Kuijk, A. W. R., Jansen, T. L. T. A., van Bon, L., … Welsing, P. M. J.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-026-03788-9

Research profiles

Courses academic year 2026/2027

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2025/2026

Address

University of Twente

Capitool 15 (building no. 78), room 138
Capitool 15
7521 PL Enschede
Netherlands

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